Annual Heritage Lecture
In 2022, GANS inaugurated an Annual Heritage Lecture in order "to broaden public discourse about local history and genealogy" with an educated and thoughtful general public. We aim to commission the sharpest historically-minded thinkers around to address larger issues in the philosophy and practice of genealogy and local history, and to disseminate their insights to the widest and most influential possible audience. We want to re-anchor the institutions of our public life in the culture and history of Nova Scotia, and carry the best of our inheritance forward.
In that first year, it was our good fortune to have David Mawhinney speak. David is the University Archivist at Mount Allison University, and he spoke about Winthrop Pickard Bell's work. Bell made the strongest contributions to genealogy of any Nova Scotian in his generation.
The next year, in 2023, we were thrilled to have Dr. John Radzilowski, the Director of the Polish Institute of Culture & Research in Orchard Lake, Michigan, talking about the value of local history.
The Annual Heritage Lecture happens as part of a dinner where we honour the work of our volunteers with a "Volunteer of the Year" award. There is a silent auction as well. It is a time of great conviviality and celebration.
This past year in 2024, the event was held at St. Agnes Parish Hall on the Halifax Peninsula, corner of Chebucto and Mumford. We were honoured to have Dr. Edward MacDonald, Professor Emeritus in History at the University of Prince Edward Island, giving the Lecture. We had a good crowd who appreciated his self-deprecating humour and learned from his discussion about the relation between genealogy and history.
The lecture is supported with an endowment fund that generates annual income to offset the expenses of the lecture. Currently, the endowment income supports about half of the costs of the lecture when it is someone from the Maritimes. When the speaker is someone from farther afield with higher travel costs, the endowment income does not even cover that much. The capital endowment fund is accumulated through donations to cover more of the costs, and we are grateful to have received several donations to the fund during the past year.
The Lecture videos for previous years are available to Members Only:
